


The Thirty-Six Chambers

by Ghost0



Series: The Borg-Cenobite War [3]
Category: Hellraiser (Movies), Star Trek: The Next Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:27:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28463814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost0/pseuds/Ghost0
Summary: Picard and his team - Data and Worf - meet up with the Romulan party as they board the altered Borg cube. As they split up to investigate, it becomes clear that whatever is altering and changing the ship is very powerful. But it isn't until they see the bodies, the violence, and the beings who have taken control of the Borg cube that Picard realizes that the danger is very real.
Series: The Borg-Cenobite War [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018060
Kudos: 2





	The Thirty-Six Chambers

At first, the interior of the Borg ship didn’t seem changed. But Picard the longer that Picard looked the more obvious it became. The color of the metal and technology nearly blended into that of the rock and brimstone. Hard rock-like surfaces and structures were fighting for dominance as it invaded the home of the drones. Some of the brimstone had chains that were attached to them, dangling and clinking as it ever so slightly slayed in the open air. And then there were appendages that could only be somewhat accurately described as vines. Long and black, sometimes they hung and hit the walkways beneath them. Others came out of one point of the wall only to enter back into it on another spot. The starship captain looked around him and noticed that, despite all the changes being forced upon it, the interior still gave off a sense of order. While the outside showed the ship being twisted and turned, arguably pulled from various points, the ordered structure of the ship remained intact. It almost seemed as the changes being forced on it wanted to help maintain that sense of discipline and focus. 

He got a brief flashback to when he was forced onto that other Borg ship. The voice of the Collective telling him why they sought him out, telling him his purpose. Being given a new name, but refusing him a true sense of individuality. Forced to serve the needs and wants of the Borg Collective.

“Captain?” Picard was brought back to the here and now. He turned to Worf, who was trying to speak to him. “Are you all right sir?”

Picard nodded his head. “Yes I…I am. What were you saying?”

“Which direction should we go in to find the Romulans?” Worf asked again.

Picard turned and looked down the walkway to their right. “They couldn’t have been transported too far from our location. We’ll go this way and see if we can locate their position. Remember to keep your phasers on stun. Right now we don’t seem to have been identified as a threat, which means they should leave us alone.” The party from the Enterprise turned and walked down the walkway. Starting in silence, Picard listened to the area around them. Tried to pick up on the background noise. Several sounds were expected, indications that the ship itself was active and the internal systems were working properly. But he thought he could have heard the faint noise of something else. Several something else’s to be more specific. But they were too muffled to get a good idea of what they could possibly be.

Turning towards his left, Picard looked at one of the patches that had been replaced with stone and had a small chain dangling with a hook on its end. “Data, are you able to tell why exactly part of the Borg ship has been turned into stone?”

He grabbed a scanner from his waist and pointed it at the patch right next to them. They paused for a second while the scan took place. He pulled it back to him and looked at the small screen. “It appears that some of the matter here is being altered on a sub-atomic level. But I am unable to confirm how this is being done.”

“It is fascinating.” Picard commented. He picked his head up and looked around. “Whatever has besieged this ship seems to have an interest in preserving some of the structure and appearance. Of course, it could just be that they simply aren’t done altering it.”

“But why stone?” Worf asked. “Surely they must still be interested in keeping this a ship that can be used for transport. Wouldn’t changing it this drastically alter the internal systems and life support?”

“If the changes reach deep enough, yes.” Picard confirmed. “But we still have no idea how or why this is happening.” They resumed walking forward. It was only a few moments later when something came out of an internal pathway. When they turned and aimed their weapons at them, Picard could see these were the Romulans they were looking for. One male and one female. He held up a hand to Worf and Data to signal that they should leave their weapons down. The Romulans slowly lowered theirs when they saw they weren’t Borg. “I am Captain Picard. How long have you been on board?”

“Probably the same amount of time as you.” The male spoke. He looked around, gazing over the edge of the walkway and looking out across the void to another part of the ship. “Have you come across any drones?”

“We haven’t.” Picard responded. He turned around and looked over his shoulder and thought for a moment. “Did we come across any regeneration alcoves?”

“Yes captain. But they were empty.” Data said.

The female Romulan spoke. “If we continue in our separate parties, we have more of a chance of getting information and trying to figure out what is going on here.”

“I don’t think we should be splitting up. Not until we have an idea of what is going on here and the potential threat we might be facing.”

“We don’t intend on being here any longer than we need to.” The female Romulan said. “We are here to gather information quickly and report back.”

Picard reluctantly nodded. “Very well. I will have Lieutenant Worf accompany you.”  
“We don’t need to be looked after like children.” The male Romulan turned his head to look at Picard.

“I won’t let anyone here be harmed, not if I can help prevent it.” Picard insisted. The Romulans looked at each other before reluctantly nodding their heads in acceptance. They turned back around and headed back on the interior pathway. Worf took a few steps forward but turned around to face Picard.

“Are you sure about sending me with them?” Worf asked.

“It is for their safety. Data and I will be fine.” Worf said nothing. He turned back around and caught up with the Romulans. Picard turned back around to look at Data. “Let’s continue along here for a little longer to see if we can find and drones in the alcoves.” They continued going straight on the path, the faint sound of the ship’s systems in the background, covering up the fainter noise of the unknown.

******

Worf followed the Romulans as they delved deeper into the Borg ship. Aside from the scanner the female held as they walked, the only sound at first as the clinking of chains that hung from the walls. The Klingon kept on the lookout for the appearance of any Borg that might come their way. But the continued lack of Borg sightings was starting to get him a little paranoid. They should have come across at least a few already. 

The Romulans suddenly stopped and turned to the left. Among the wall of Borg technology was a large black curtain. Looking towards the ground, they could tell that the curtain acted as a door into a room of some kind. They all heard the noise of moans and movement from the other side. “Set phasers to kill.” The female spoke to her partner.  
“Wait.” Worf said. “We don’t need to shoot. The noise doesn’t indicate any hostile threat.”

“You do what you want. But we will keep our weapons at the ready and will shoot if needed.” The male reached a hand out and pulled back the curtain. 

As he stepped inside the room, Worf looked in hidden shock at what he beheld. These were the Borg drones that he expected to come across. But they were all down on the floor, moaning and crying out. A closer look at their bodies showed that the technology that would normally be implanted in their bodies have seemed to be ripped out. Carefully stepping forward in the spaces separating the bodies, Worf saw the scars and wounds on the naked bodies of dozens of Borg. He did his best to hide the look of shock that was trying to express itself on his face. The eyes of both Romulans widened and they showed visible surprise at the bodies covering the floor beneath them.

“Based on…this…it appears that this ship has been invaded.” The female observed. “As for the inconsistencies with the ship material, whoever or whatever is on board could potentially be responsible for this.”

“In that case, I don’t think we need to know any more.” The male said. 

“I think we need to keep looking.” Worf surprised the Romulans. “We need to know what exactly we are dealing with here.”

“There is no need.” The male insisted. “We can leave the ship and let the Borg suffer on their own.”

“But what if whatever is happening for them comes for us? Or for your people?” Worf turned around to look back at the Romulan. “All I’m saying is we should try and find some sort of sample. Anything that is foreign to this ship that can be taken back for further observation.”

The Romulans looked at each other for a moment longer. Turning his head back, he gave Worf a look of frustration. “Very well. But let’s be quick about it.” Worf followed them out of the room, leaving the Borg bodies to cry out in pain on the floor. They continued to walk along the darkened path, moving quickly and keeping an eye out for anything odd or out of place. A while passed before they heard something out of the ordinary again. The female Romulan identified the origin of the noise and pointed down the direction they should head in. 

As they walked further down the path and approached the origin of the disturbance, it became clearer what exactly the noise was. Screams of pain and the sound of something slicing. Based on the screams that accompanied the sound of slicing metal, Worf deduced that a drone must be going through some kind of torture. His hand reached for his phaser, turning the setting to kill. He wasn’t sure if he needed to or if it would work, but he took in a deep breath as they slowly approached an opening within the wall. Worf got in front, signaling to the Romulans that he would look to see what is on the other side. He quietly peeked his eyes around the corner, and he saw that he was right to assume torture was taking place.

There was a large stone table within the room, not quite centered. It was placed more towards Worf’s left side. He saw the wrists of what appeared to be one of the Borg chained to the table, crying out as the person that stood over him sliced at his body. Except, it wasn’t one individual. Not exactly. There was a large man with a hood over his head and a cloak that would normally cover his entire torso. But it was lifted up to show that a smaller person was seemingly attached to his back. He couldn’t tell how this individual was connected to the larger one, but it seemed only the top half of this smaller person was connected. This body was completely covered in tight black latex, wearing some sort of gas mask on his face. In each hand he held a blade that formed a half circle and the ends of the blade were both connected to the handle. The individual with half a body brought his hands down and sliced back and forth through the flesh of the screaming Borg. Worf’s eyes turned away and saw a couple more Borg hanging on hooks on the other wall. Naked and technology ripped off, their bodies were sliced open and allowed their internal organs to be seen and fall out onto the cold hard ground beneath their hanging bodies.

Movement from the hallway that they were standing in saved Worf from having to decide what to do. The Romulans held their phasers and aimed them at the creature that had just appeared. It turned around, allowing Worf to see what kind of twisted design it had. It used all four arms – no legs at all – to grab onto the walls in order to move its body. The head of the creature was towards the ground, the mouth opened in a snarl and stared down the aliens it has come across. Towards the top of the body rested some sort of stinger that leaned forward and hung in the air. The body’s color seemed to be similar to the skin tone of Picard or Riker’s body, but it also seemed to glisten and shine from the little light that was within the ship. Coming off as more reptilian than anything human-like, the creature growled and grabbed onto the walls and moved towards the aliens. The Romulans fired their phasers, but the creature didn’t seem to even register their effect and continued towards them.

Worf maneuvered around the Romulans and got towards the hideous creature. He picked a foot up and kicked at one of its hands to make it lose a grip. The beast snarled and the tail on top started to move back in an effort to deliver a powerful strike. But Worf caught the movement with his eye and used a hand to grab onto the skin surrounding the base of the stinger. It was hard to get a firm grip, the skin being moist. The mouth of the creature tried to push forward in an attempt to bite into Worf’s body. He tried to keep his body just out of reach. Just as the beast’s mouth closed again, Worf brought his foot up as hard as he could and collided into the bottom of its jaw. The creature started to pull back, which allowed Worf to hit back as hard as he could until the thing lost its grip on the walls and fell onto the ground on its back. It squirmed and tried to move around, the Romulans getting closer to get a better look at what had just tried to attack them.

Worf activated his communication device. “Captain, I suggest we regroup and reports our findings.” But Worf didn’t get an answer back. He tried to talk again. “Captain, this is Lieutenant Worf. Respond if you are able to hear me.” Once again, no answer came.

“Captain, are you there?” He turned around to see that the female Romulan was trying to reach her ship. After a few moments, she shook her head and looked to her partner. “Our communication has been cut off as well.”

“Are they purposefully making sure we can’t call for backup? Whatever these things are?” The male glared down in anger. But all of them stepped back when they saw it find a grip on a wall and started to pull itself up. But they allowed themselves the quickest of reliefs when it started to move away from them and out of sight.

“Right now, all we can do is regroup with Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data.” Work said. “When we do, we can work to find a way to send a signal out.” With no other choice, the Romulans followed the Klingon as they tried to find another path that could lead them to the others. Watching every corner for danger.

******

Data continued to scan the patches in the wall that were stone instead of Borg technology. But he was still unable to pick up anything that could explain how the transformation might have happened. Picard was several feet in front of Data, looking towards the various paths. He decided to try and reach out to the others and activated his communication device. “Lieutenant Worf, tell me what your position is.” He grew concerned that no response came back. He tried contacting the Enterprise. “Number One, status report.” But once again, no answer came back. He turned around to look at Data. “Are you having difficulties with communication?”

“Let me check sir. This is Data, respond if you can read me.” He paused and waited with no success. “I am unable to reach anyone back on the Enterprise captain.”

“I have the same result. I can’t even seem to reach out to Worf either.” Picard said.

“Perhaps…” Data thought for a moment. “The signal that was originally picked up on subspace communication could be responsible.”

“But we were able to communicate with the Romulans before boarding onto the Borg cube.”

“My point exactly captain.” Data elaborated. “The signal being projected could be interfering with communication but only if we are on the ship itself. This explains why we are now unable to contact the Enterprise or Lieutenant Worf.”

Nodding in understanding, they continued moving forward and decided to turn around the corner on their right. Except, it wasn’t a corner but rather an opening into a room. Hanging from the ceiling were chains and hooks that held up several people above the ground. Examining them, Picard suspected that these were Borg but their implants had been torn out of their bodies. Their bodies were now all flesh, and their naked bodies showed how their flesh was now being penetrated and mutilated. Blood ran down their bodies and softly dripped onto the floor. Picard looked around in horror as he saw a couple of them try to move and squirm, even moaning as they felt the sensations overwhelm their nerves. They moved ever so slowly to the middle of the room as they continued to look up.

“Captain, is this some sort of torture practice?” Data asked. “If it is, what exactly is the purpose of this?”

“No Date. This is torture, but not the kind you are referring to.” Data turned and observed the uneasy look Picard’s face was expressing. “This is something that is inflicted on people because the torturer receives pleasure from watching them suffer. That is the only purpose of something like this.”

“A few of them are moaning. From what I can gather, humans usually moan when they are experiencing something pleasurable.”

Picard shook his head. “I can’t speak for the pain these victims are feeling Data. I can tell you that moaning can also be an indication of pain. A kind that has become dull and familiar, but still very much there. Let’s leave.” Picard took them out of the room and back into the hall. They continued on in silence, trying to see if there was any sign they were near Worf and the Romulans.

Then they came across a door. One that seemed to be of Borg technology. Picard motioned that they should enter it, on the off chance that the other party might be hiding out in there. Once it was opened, they stepped forward into the room. Picard recognized this as a maturation chamber, a room designated for Borg children until they have reached an age that they can fully serve as drones. After walking a few steps, both of them turned their attention to the other being in the room. The person, who appeared to be female, was close to a wall and was examining a young infant. The child made soft noises, raising one of its hands upward and grabbed the air. The woman moved one hand towards it, extending a finger to let the baby grab. The woman wore tight latex that covered almost her entire body, the exception being her face. Her skin was very pale, but it almost seemed to contain some sort of bluish tint. The half of her head they could see was buzzed clean off, the other side seemed to have long black hair that reached her shoulder. On the side of her head facing them, a small hole was held open by tiny hooks, connected to a large black headband of some sort that wrapped itself around the rest of her head. The skull had been cracked open and the pieces removed, allowing anyone like Picard to stare right at her brain. After a moment, the woman turned completely around. Her ear on the other side seems to have been sliced off, potentially creating another hole for others to stare into her body to see her muscle and bone. But the rest of her face seems to be untouched. No smile existed on her face, but there was something within her dark eyes that showed some unknown emotion.

When she stepped towards them, Picard could hear that she was wearing some form of heels on her feet. Her arms remained still at her side. She examined his face closely. “So…you are Locutus. The one who escaped damnation.” Picard kept still and as expressionless as he could. Her eyes flickered towards Data, and her head tilted ever so slightly. “You have the appearance of having a body of flesh, yet you hold no desire.”

“I’m an android.” Data told her. “My body is covered with synthetic skin, designed to look like the man who created me.”

“That’s enough Data.” She turned back to Picard. “Whoever you are, you need to answer for what has happened to the Borg and what your intentions are. Despite what they appear, the Borg are made up of species that have been assimilated. They were forced…tortured and turned into drones.” Picard fought back another memory. “What I have seen so far shows that regardless of your intent or mission here, you are putting through that same kind of suffering. I will not let torture on this scale go on.”

After he had finished, he heard movement come towards their room and entered. He turned his head and looked at two more similar looking beings. One was large, with his gut cut and held open and wearing a leather outfit with glasses covering his eyes. The other was another female, this one completely bald and her outfit appeared as something a little more similar to a dress or gown. There was a hole in her neck held open with two hooks, connected to a curved piece of metal that ran through both cheeks.

“He requests that the one in red be brought to him.” Her voice was soft, almost whispering. Her finger pointed right at Picard. 

“Very well. I am more curious about the other.” She turned her attention to Data. 

“Captain, they don’t appear to have any weapons. We could - “

“No Data.” Picard said. He turned to the woman with the hole in her neck. “Does he, whoever he is, assume command of this ship?”

“He is Lord Leviathan’s priest. The one who has lead us into your dimension.” She responded.

Picard gave a slight nod. He turned to the woman with a hole in her head. “I will not go without Lieutenant Data.”

“You will go alone.” Picard felt both of his arms being grabbed by the other two beings from behind. He was pulled away from Data and the woman, the door into the maturation chamber being closed as they pulled him out. Forced to walk forward, they took him to the one they referred to as the priest. As he was forced to move through the halls, he listened to the noise of the ship. And the noise of what he now knows are many Borg crying out in pain, with maybe a few even deriving pleasure from their torture.


End file.
